Traction-engine.



G. CUFF.

TRACTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24. 1913'.

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WITNESSES:

2 BYIMM nrrommn- Patnted Apr. 10,1917.

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GEORGE CUFF, F POYINETTE, WISCONSIN.

TRACTION-ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr, 1119, 191?;

Application filed April- 24, 1913. Serial No. 763,294.

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GEORGE CUFF, a citi-' This invention relates totraction engines; and the principal object is to provide such engineswith an efficient and durable attachment by which to haul heavily loadedvehicles, or other loads drawn by the engine up hills or over rough orsoft parts of a road. The invention may be considered as afurther'improvement of the traction engine described in my United StatesPatent No. 825,520, issued July 10, 1906.

1n n the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is an enlarged View of theattachment removed from under the platform of the traction engine whereit is usually secured. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the attachmentshown in Fig. 1- with the platform of the traction engine restored.

so tachment which will now be described.

The attachment is designed to be secured underneath the platform 5, andinvolves a frame preferably made of channel iron side bars 10, which maybe secured to the sides of the boiler (not shown), and vertical bars 12,secured to the platform. 5, as shown in Fig. 2, either or both of saidmeans may be employed for detachably securing the frame to the tractionengine.

The frame further involves a broad cross bar or base 13, upon which asmall double acting'engine 14 is secured. Secured across the rear end ofthe frame is a broad fiat bar 15 and therebelow a narrower flat bar 16.In the rear end of the frame are journaled two horizontal spaced rolls17, and partly projecting rearwardly between said rolls are two verticalspacedrolls 18 mounted between the plates 15, 16.

Guided between said four rolls is a cable 19, to whose rear end is fixedat 20 a shank 21, which has a slidable movement in a cylindrical sleeve22 with a bell-shaped rear end 23 adapted to receive and guard-the oening of a hook 24, which is secured in t e rear end of the slidablemember 21;

Referring to the drawings byreference said hook is adapted forengagement with the load to be hauled.

The front end of the cable is fixed to and wound upon a spiral-grooveddrum 25, which drum is axially threaded upon a screw 26, which is fixedto one or both of the frame bars 10 and is slidable on four parallelbars 27, which have their ends fixed in two gear-wheels 28, which aremounted to rotate one upon each end of the screw 26 and are driven bytwo pinions 29 fixed on a shaft 30. Said shaft'30 is journaled upon theframe and is provided with a key 31, on which and on the shaft isslidably mounted'a clutch-member 32, which by a shifter lever may bethrown into a clutch member 34 formed on the hub of a wormthe shaft 30and is rotated by a worm screw .36 fixed on the crank shaft-14 oftheengine 14. V n

In order to get the'cable 1'9 closely and neatly wound about the drum 25also when there may be no" rearward strain on it, 1. provide a roller 37to press downward upon about three of the last coils wound on the drum.Said roller is mounted in a forked lever 38, which i's fulcrumed at 39upon the frame bar 15, and has its rear end 40 supwheel 35, whichnormally-rotates freely on l ported by a strong spring 41 which pressesthe rollers '37 downward.

In the operation of the device, when the traction engine is drawing athreshing-machine or separator or any other heavy vehicle, the pole ofsuch vehicle is usually provided with an eye which is placed on the hook24 and retained thereon by the funnel 23, and normally the hook is drawnand held as far as possible forward in the funnel and the funnel as farforward as the cable guiding T0118 17 and 18 Will admit.

-Now if the hauled vehicle encounters an obstruction, usually a softportion of the road, which causes too great aresistance to the forwardprogress of the traction engine,

then the clutch member 32 is disengaged by the shifter lever, so thatthe drum may un- Wind the required length of the cable while theengine'moves forward to solid ground some distance from the oft spot ofthe road, the clutch 32 is then thrown" into action,

the engine 2 may be st pped, and as the engine. 14 is then started, theworm screw and worm wheel will wind the cable upon the drum and thuspull the hauled vehicle over and beyond-the soft place, or an upwardbrought on good road again,

incline of road, while the traction engine itself serves simply as ananchor to they attachment. After the vehicle is thus the secondaryengine 14 is stopped and the main engine started again.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the strain of thepulling cable does not tend to bend the screw 26, nor cause greatfriction on same, as said strain and friction are borne by and dividedupon the four smooth bars 27 on which the drum slides. It will also beseenthat by using a special engine for the attachment the work requiredof the attachment may be accomplished in but a fraction of the time itrequires to perform itby a hand-operated attachmen What I claim is In anattachment for traction engines, a

wheels, and means for rotating the shaft alternately in oppositedirection. In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE CUFF.

Witnesses:

W. J. RAUTH, DAVID MILLARD.

